Walking towards the market, the first shopping area we come to is the Norwich Lanes (see below) with its cobbled streets with many shops and bars. In the centre of the Lanes is the superb art nouveau Royal Arcade designed by Norwich architect George Skipper in 1899 with tiles depicting peacocks, ladies, flowers, arabesques. Today it is home to Colman’s Mustard Shop.
We now come to the present day Norwich Market, a colourful landmark open six days a week with around 200 traditional stalls under brightly coloured canvas awnings.
The market is presided over by the Norwich City Hall. Built in the 1930s to replace the Guildhall too small by then to be the civic centre, the Hall has an art deco interior and period features. Opposite the market is Jarrolds Department Store, a family-run department store since 1823.
Behind the market we find ourselves at The Forum, a soaring building in glass and £65 million pound millennium project built to replace the Central Library which was sadly destroyed by fire in 1994. The Forum, a lively place to meet, houses a state-of-the-art library, tourist information, exhibition space, restaurant and coffee shop.
Norwich Lanes is the name given Norwich’s beautiful historic quarter where a fantastic range of unique and querky shops, mostly independent and run by locals, nestle amongst medieval alleyways and winding back streets. Fashion boutiques, beauty salons, cafes and bars, theatres and museums, and many other shops span the historic cobbled streets and narrow alleyways.
Castle Mall is next to Norwich Castle and has more than 70 shops, about 12 cafes/ restaurants and an 8-screen Vue cinema. Its main car park is on Market Avenue and a smaller one is on Farmers Avenue.
Chapelfield is a shopping centre situated within Norwich's traditional centre, just inside the inner ring road. It has more than 90 shops and 20 cafés and restaurants. Parking is available underneath the shopping centre.
The Royal Arcade is a spectacular art nouveau styled Victorian arcade. Built in 1899 on the former yard of the Royal Hotel Coaching Inn, the Royal Arcade was one of several Norwich buildings by renowned local architect George Skipper. The arcade stretches from Gentlemans Walk to Back of the Inns.
The Anglia Square shopping centre is located to the north of Norwich city centre between the historic Magdalen Street and St Augustines Street.
Norwich also has a retail park where a smaller number of very big shop units can be found with easy parking - Riverside Retail Park.
In addition to the Norwich Lanes streets above and the shopping centres, the following streets also have many shops:
For a concise A-Z index of Norwich streets please see the A-Z street index.
Norwich Online's shopping directory lists thousands of shops all over Norwich, with thousands of visitor reviews.